Recent Viewpoints

October 12, 2018
celebrating 63 years of marriage

Penna Dexter The divorce rate is falling in America. According to an analysis of US Census Bureau data, it fell 18 percent from 2008 to 2016. Even after controlling for factors such as an aging population, University of Maryland sociology professor Phillip Cohen found the drop was still 8 percent. Underneath this trend there’s both good and bad news. The good news is: the marriages of Generation Xers and, to a greater extent, millennials are lasting longer. Couples are marrying…

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October 12, 2018
iGen'ers

Kerby Anderson In addition to my study of the millennial generation is my current research on the generation following them. Jean Twenge has given them the name iGen because their generation has always had digital devices like the iPod and the iPhone. They were born between 1995 and 2012. In fact, the leading edge of the iGen generation are now graduating from college. In many ways, they are different from previous generations. Here are a few characteristics that Jean Twenge…

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October 11, 2018
trump protestors & police

Kerby Anderson A number of columnists and political thinkers have tried to explain why there is so much hate in the public arena. Shelby Steele is a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He has some profound insights on “Why the Left is Consumed With Hate.” He takes us back to the 1960’s when this country “finally accepted that slavery and segregation were profound moral failings.” So the left put itself in charge of righting this wrong, thus giving…

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October 10, 2018
left wing protest at Berkley

Kerby Anderson Last month I quoted from Victor Davis Hanson’s article on “The Origins of Our Second Civil War.” One of his explanations focused on our college campuses. His insightful analysis is worth more than the few sentences I devoted to it a month ago. He argues that higher education helped split the country in two. For example, college campuses “competed for scarcer students by styling themselves as Club Med-type resorts.” This included upscale dorms with phenomenal buffets and lavish…

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October 9, 2018
False Memories

Kerby Anderson These last few weeks have provided all us with an education about memories. How well do we accurately recall events that took place decades ago? What have scientists discovered about true and false memories? We may never know how many of the memories that have been cited and even presented in the Senate Judiciary Committee are accurate. But we do have some data that suggests that the memories of people who testify in trials are often not as…

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October 8, 2018
christopher columbus portrait

Kerby Anderson Today is Columbus Day. While this is a holiday for many, it is an opportunity for all of us to look back on the life and exploits of Christopher Columbus. I guess we should begin by acknowledging that Columbus Day today is not your father’s Columbus Day. Not so long ago Christopher Columbus was revered as the man who discovered the Americas and opened up the continent to settlement. Today he is often portrayed in a negative light…

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October 5, 2018
democratic side - senate judiciary cmte

Penna Dexter The loudest female voices regarding the allegations against Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh were those denouncing senators’ support for him and demanding it be “justified” with more investigation. Less reported were the numerous women who called Senate offices in support of Kavanaugh and who were critical of what they saw as a political lynching that unfairly destroyed the reputation of a brilliant jurist and family man. The #MeToo movement is shining a bright light on sexual abuse by…

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October 5, 2018
challenges ahead - caution sign

Kerby Anderson Two weeks ago my commentary was all about “good news” that is rarely covered by the press since it isn’t really considered news. I wanted to come back and talk about some “bad news” that also is rarely covered by the press because it is too much in the future when the focus on news is what is happening now. Tyler Cowen wrote about what he called, “The Decline and Fall of the American Empire.” He doesn’t think…

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October 4, 2018
bert & ernie

Kerby Anderson If you want to see how crazy the culture wars have become, you need look no further than Bert and Ernie on “Sesame Street.” On a fairly regular basis, viewers and political activists have asked if these two are homosexual. The standard response from the program is that they are puppets. If anything, they are merely portraying two best friends on the program. Unfortunately, that standard answer wasn’t acceptable to some. Mark Salzman was the scriptwriter for “Sesame…

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October 3, 2018
Washington_Crossing_the_Delaware

Kerby Anderson America is a divided country. Os Guinness in his book, Last Call for Liberty, argues that the American republic is suffering its gravest crisis since the Civil War. He believes that the root of this disagreement is two different definitions of freedom. One view of freedom is embodied in “1776 and the American Revolution.” The other view arose in “1789 and the French Revolution.” The first can be found in the Declaration of Independence that owes its formulation…

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October 2, 2018
graph - hurricanes by decade

Kerby Anderson Every time a major hurricane hits the American coastline, we can be sure to hear more claims that the devastation is due to global warming. Reporters and politicians argue that the Earth’s changing climate is fueling these “supercharged storms” and destroying our coastal areas. Fortunately, Dr. Roy Spencer is providing some perspective to the hyperbole and fear mongering that surface with each tropical storm or hurricane. If you look at two graphs he has put together, you can see…

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